XL97: Unexpected Results Using the SolverAdd Function

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you execute the SolverAdd function to programmatically add a constraint in your Solver model, the constraint is not added.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if you use R1C1 notation for the "FormulaText" argument of the SolverAdd function. In Microsoft Excel 97, the "FormulaText" argument for SolverAdd will execute successfully only when specified in A1 notation.

NOTE: In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, when you added a constraint to a problem with the Visual Basic function SolverAdd, you were required to specify the right side of the equation (the "FormulaText" argument) in R1C1 notation. If you did not specify the "FormulaText" argument in R1C1 notation, the constraint was not added. This has changed in Microsoft Excel 97 and now the opposite is true.

WORKAROUND

For example, the following line will not add a constraint to a Solver model in Microsoft Excel 97:

   SolverAdd CellRef:=Range("$A$1"), Relation:=1, FormulaText:="R1C2"

   SolverAdd CellRef:=Range("$A$1"), Relation:=1, FormulaText:="$B$1"